Posted by
Always To The Right on Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:34:55 PM
When asked where Congress derives its power to issue a mandate to
citizens to buy health insurance or face large fines or jail time,
Democratic politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Patrick Leahy, and Steny
Hoyer scoff at the very question as “ridiculous.” However, the last
time such a mandate was proposed, at least one entity on Capitol Hill
did not find it ridiculous at all. In 1993, the Congressional Budget Office analyzed HillaryCare and reported to Congress that it would take an “unprecedented” step in issuing such mandates (via Verum Serum)
. . . explanations of “general welfare” from James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, two men who led the effort that produced the Constitution, and its close connection to enumerated powers and their limitations
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money,
and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a
limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one,
subject to particular exceptions. (James Madison, Letter to Edmund
Pendleton, January 21, 1792 Madison 1865, I, page 546)